The Hopeless and his Hope
by AuthorE
Summary: My own version of Beauty and the Beast, in which a hopeless Prince, cursed as a Beast, finds the true love he never thought existed. All characters belong to me. Beauty and the Beast belongs the Disney. -Rated 'T' just in case-


~Prologue~

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young Prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the Prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the Prince sneered at the gift, and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, For Beauty is found within. And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful Enchantress. The Prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, For she had seen that there was no love in his heart. And as punishment, ahe transformed him into a hideous beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The Rose she had offered, was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom for many years. If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast For all time.

As the years passed, He fell into despair, and lost all hope, For who could ever learn to love...a Beast?

Time passed…No one came to the castle and the Beast had all but given up hope…Until one day…

An elderly man, pursued by a pack of wolves stumbled upon the vine-covered castle. Immediately, he was deterred by the gargoyles and ominous appearance of the place, but it would be the only haven where he would be safe…At least, for the night. And so he entered the castle.

The Beast discovered the man being tended to by the castle servants, and he threw the man into the dungeons to rot…He had not known; however, that the elderly man had a beautiful daughter. She was pursued by only the best men in town, and she was the apple of her father's eye, but the old man knew he would never see his daughter again..

A few days after the old man had been thrown into the dungeon, he was awoken by a soft clatter, and a call of, "Papa?" The man replied in a rough voice, clearly stricken with sickness. He called the name of his daughter, then looked in terror as the Beast loomed over both of them. The daughter pleaded for her father's freedom, and the Beast agreed…But on the terms of the girl's own imprisonment, forever. She obliged, but was quickly repulsed when she saw the Beast's appearance. He was a terrifying sight to behold. The girl went with him anyway. She was selfless and she sacrifice herself for her father.

Time passed and, eventually, the girl and the Beast came to understand each other. They became friends and, in time, they realized they did truly love one another. However, there was another that loved the girl. A suitor came with the men of the village behind him, breaking down the doors of the castle to kill the Beast. The suitor found the Beast, piercing him with an arrow. A battle between the two took place, and the suitor was vanquished at his own fault.

But what of the Beast?

The girl was terrified to find her love on a balcony, pierced through with an arrow and dying. The rose was wilting, and the last petal fell…But not before the girl could utter the simple words, "I love you." And so the spell was broken. The girl and the Beast, now reverted back to a Prince, lived on as King and Queen of the land, and they always loved one another.

…And so ends the tale of the Beauty and the Beast…

Alec snorted and snapped the book shut. A childish fairy tale of true love and valor, that was all this was. Magic existed in this world, and he knew only too well, but true love and happy endings were for little girls and boys to be told of before bed, not for grown men, for princes to read. He slid the book back into its place on the shelf and stood, white fur cloak sweeping around as he did so. He would never get anywhere in life if he read children's stories.

The one thing, the only thing that Alec could agree with in this story was that magic, both Pure and Corrupted, existed in this world. He knew all too well the consequences of fiddling with it. If there were a story of his life, it would turn out _exactly_ like that of the Prince in the story…Well, at least the part about turning into a Beast.

Alec was the Beast of the story, previously the Prince. He used to be handsome, wealthy, powerful. Now he appeared malformed and strange. He had charcoal gray fur covering his body, for one thing, and he had four white horns protruding from his head. His ears were still set on the sides of his head, but they were like that of a cow, only gray in color. He had several piercings on his ears as well, both gold and silver. His eyes were a vivid green, his pupils slitted like a cat's. The tip of his nose was black, soft, and often wet, like that of a dog. He had long, white fangs curling from the top of his mouth, and slightly shorter ones on his lower jaw. His fingernails were black and sharp, like claws, and he even had paw pads on his hands, black in color. Alec had a long, black tail, tipped with an arrow-shaped barb, and his feet and even his legs were similar in build to that of an animal, with his paws padded and tipped with sharp claws.

To put it simply, Alec thought himself a monster, scorned by humanity to live alone, with only his servants to tend to him. Another similarity between himself and the story was that the servants had all been changed as well, into different appliances and baubles. Why, his personal butler was a candelabrum! He had a suspicion that the enchantress in the story was going around to all the selfish, loveless princes and giving them what's for. Alec shook his head and started out of the room. The only problem was, his story had gone…Mostly like that in the book. The only difference was, his rose had wilted already.

Someone had lead Alec on, made him think they loved them and let him fall in love with them…

And then had broken his heart.

He was cursed to be a terrifying, hated Beast forever because the woman he thought he'd loved was just as selfish as he was.

It was simply awful. Thinking about it gave Alec a pain in his chest, and it made him ball his hands into fists. Never again would he let someone lead him on, let someone fall in love with him like that and allow himself to fall in love…Never again.


End file.
